Slipper-display support



Aug. 31 1926.

L. CL S/KFIH SLIPPER DI SPLAY SUPPORT Filed May 5, 1926 INVENTOR BY '3 I I {m A ATTORNEYS atented Aug. 3i, I926.

LEO C. SAFIR, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

SLIPPER-IDISPLAY SUPPORT.

Application filed May 3,

This invention relates to shoe displaying and packaging and has for its object the provision of a display support of improved construction for shoes and more especially for slippers.

In displaying shoes, and particularly those which have relatively soft and pliable toes it is important that the toe portions be stretched to present their natural rounding surface so that the shoes will have as neat and attractive an appearance as possible. It is also desirable that shoes of this kind, especially those having their uppers made of cloth or felt, such for example as bath slippers, be arranged in package form so that the shoes will present the same neat and attractive appearance while the shoe is being examined by the customer as when on display in a store window or show case. Fur thermore, some shoes, such for example as ules which have no quarters, are more attractive when only the toe portions can be seen. Moreover, when slippers are sold in a set with other garments for example, a bath robe, it is customary to make the toe portions of material which matches the other garment, whereas the interiors and the soles of the slippers usually are of contrasting color. It is hence desirable, in displaying such slippers, to conceal from view substantially all of the slippers except the toe portions so as to render more striking the matching characteristics common to the slippers and the other garment.

According to my present invention there is provided a display support which is adapted to receive shoes of the general class referred to above and which is so constructed that the toe portions of the shoes therein are maintained in a stretched or spread out condition so as to be neat and attractive, and, when combined with a container, to conceal from View more or less of the rear portion of the shoe and expose only the toe portion. In addition, the improved container protects to a certain extent the sides and ends of the shoes against damage or fro becoming soiled.

In accordance with the invention the improved display support comprises an intermediate or central portion from which a 1926. Serial No. 106,405.

pair of tongues of resilient or yielding material, or yieldingly attached to the intermediate portion, project in opposite directions. Each of these tongues is adapted to rereive the toe portion of a shoe so that a pair of shoes are thereby supported with their toes projecting in opposite directions.

Illhe two toe supporting tongues normally lie in the same plane and are provided with marginal side portions of yieldable material, or yieldingly secured to the centers of the tongues, for conforming to the interior surfaces of the toe portions. I have found that by making the centers of the tongues flat when in the normal position and also by employing fiat marginal portions yieldingly attached to the centers along substantially straight longitudinal lines, the tongues may be made to approximately conform to the shape of such interior surfaces in a satisfactory manner. The two tongues and the intermediate portion are preferably formed integrally.

The device thus described supports a pair of shoes with their bottoms superposed or tclcscoped within one another and their toe portions extending in opposite directions, in which case the central or intermediate portion of the support serves to conceal to a considerable extent the interiors of the middle portions of the thus telescoped shoes. However, the invention also involves the provision of side and bottom walls in connection with the tongue supports for the purpose of completely concealing from View substantially all portions of the shoe except the toes. Thus the central or intermediate portion is secured along the side walls of the container at or near the top edges thereof; the tongues are thereby held in the desired position extending in opposite directions between the upstanding walls of the container.

The invention will be better understood by referring to the accompanying drawings showing by way of example one embodiment of the invention. In these drawings Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a combined container and display support with a pair of slippers in position therein;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the container before the shoes have been inserted and showing the oppositely extending tongues in their normal unbent condition;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the shoe display support by itself;

Fig. 4 is a sectional View taken centrally and longitudinally through Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a transverse section taken on line 55 of Fig. 4; and

Fig. 6 is a plan of the development of the blank from which the container is made.

Referrin now to the accompanying drawings the display support of the invention shown alone in Fig. 3 and combined with a container in the remaining figures comprises tongues 13 and 14 joined by an intermediate or connecting portion 15 which serves to conceal from view the interior of the central portion of two shoes such as the slippers 16 and 17 when they are placed, one over each of the tongues 13 and 14 respectively. Each of tongues 13 and 14 comprises a substantially flat center 18 having depressed longitudinal marginal portions 19 and 20 resiliently or yieldingly secured to the centers 18 along the horizontal lines 21. By constructing the tongues in this manner and by curving their outer ends as shown in Fig. 2, it has been found possible to make the tongues fit the interior surfaces of the shoes to a sufficient extent to spread out the toe portions and maintain them in a slightly stretched condition so that their exterior surfaces are substantially smooth and therefore neat and attractive in appearance.

As is seen in Fig. 2 of the drawings, the slipper display support just briefly described is constructed as a part of a box-like structure having a bottom 10 and front and rear side walls 11 and 12 respectively. The material employed is preferably relatively heavy fibre board such as card-board as this has been found to satisfactorily meet the requirements of the trade, but other suitable materials may be used if desired.

The marginal portions 19 and 20 of the tongues are cut at their inner ends along diagonal lines 22 to separate them from the connecting member 15 and also for the purpose of providing the narrow wedge-shaped openings 23 (see Fig. 1) so as to allow the upper edges 24 of the shoes to pass underneath the connecting portion 15. The width of connecting portion 15 is approximately that of the shoe or at least suflicient to cover the interior including the inner sole of the shoes which would otherwise be exposed to view. As shown in Fig. 2, this connecting portion 15 constitutes a bridging member extending across between the top edges of the side walls 10 and 11 to which it is appropriately secured, being made integral with side wall 12 and being cemented to a lip 25 which projects inwardly from the upper margin of wall 11.

lVhen the shoe display support comprising the tongues 13 and 14 interconnected at their inner ends is constructed as a part of the body portion of the container comprising the walls 10, 11 and 12, a box-like structure results which effectively conceals from the view of the prospective purchaser the soles and sides of the shoes and in fact leaves exposed only the upper toe portions, the interiors of the shoes being also completely hidden as may be clearly seen by referring to Figs. 1, 4 and 5.

This box-like container structure is manufactured in quantities by means of the diestamped blanks shown in Fig. 6 to which reference characters similar to those used in the other figures have been applied to corresponding portions. From Fig. 6 it will be understood that the blank is scored along the parallel lines 26 to facilitate the formation of the corners 27 between the bottom and the side walls of the container. The scoring 28 allows the bridging member 15 to be easily folded down and cemented to the lip 25 which has previously been folded over along the scored line 29. The scorings 3O allow the marginal portions 19 and 20. to be depressed to suit the form of the toe portions and provide a sufficient yielding attachment of said portions with the centers 18.

If the material of the tongues 13 and 14 and the connecting portion 15 is sufficiently stiff the toes of the shoes will be held up in nearly the horizontal position when the shoes are placed upon the tongues, or in other words the tongue centers 18 will not be depressed to a great extent below the position in which they are shown in Fig. 2. Ordinarily, however, the tongue centers 18 bend down along the transverse line between the outer ends of cuts 22 where they join the intermediate portion 15, and the toes of the shoes assume a position about as shown in Figs. 1 and 4 with the soles of the shoes substantially horizontal.

The distance between the tips of the outer ends of tongues 13 and 14 and the length of the connecting or bridging portion 15 depends upon the size and shape of the shoes for which thedisplay support is made but these two dimensions are so chosen that the soles 31 and 32 of the two shoes overlap one another or telescope within one another, thus combining a pair of shoes in a relatively small compact package.

The combined shoe container and display support of the present invention provides an adequate protection, both against damage by mechanical injury as well as by soiling, for many kinds of shoes. It provides a convenient package inasmuch as the shape of the container lends itself to stacking so masses that the shoes may be compactly packed for shipment, or stored, as circumstances may require. Moreover, the completed containers by themselves, before the shoes have been inserted in them, may be flattened so as to occupy an extremely small amount of space by bending along any two diagonally opposite longitudinal edges. The container is capable of being manufactured at relatively low cost from inexpensive material.

The construction of the invention spreads the toes of slippers that ordinarily are untidy in appearance because of being made from relatively flexible or soft materials, so as to hold the toe portions in slightl stretched condition. As a result of this stretching and because-of the concealing of the interiors, as well as the greater portion of the exteriors of the shoes, they are displayed in an attractive manner. In addition, these individual packages of shoes may be placed on display without further dressing up, and are attractive and convenient for examination of the goods by the custon'ier, the slippers being readily removable from the containers for complete inspection if the customer so desires.

I claim:

1. A shoe display support having a pair of tongues for receiving "the toes of a pair of shoes and maintaining said toes projecting in opposite directions, said tongues oppositely extending from an intern'iediate portion of the support which overlies the middle portions of the oppositely projecting shoes to aid in concealing said portions.

2. A shoe display support having a pair of tongues for receiving the toes of a pair of shoes, said tongues projecting in opposite directions from an intermediate portion of the support which overlies the middle portions of the shoes to aid in concealing the same, and said tongues being provided with depressed side marginal portions for approximately conforming to the interior surface of the toes.

3. A shoe display support having a pair of tongues for receiving the toes of a pair of shoes, said tongues projecting in opposite directions from an intermediate portion of the support which overlies the middle portions of the shoes to aid in concealing the same, said tongues extending substantially in a common plane and being provided with yielding marginal portions for approximately conforming to the interior surfaces of the toes so as to support the toes in a partially stretched condition.

4. A shoe display support having a pair of tongues for receiving the toes of a pair of shoes, said tongues projecting in opposite directions from an intermediate portion of the support which overlies the middle portions of the shoes to aid in concealing the same, and said tongues being constructed of yielding material normally remaining in a common plane and bending out of said plane to support the toes in partially stretched condition.

A shoe container comprising a body portion including side Walls, and a longitudinal member secured intermediate its ends to said walls and formed with oppositely extending tongues for receiving the toe portions of a pair of shoes, the shoes being concealed by the container except for the toe portions thereof overlying said tongues.

6. A shoe container comprising a body portion having bottom and side walls, and a longitudinal member secured intermediate its ends to the top of the side walls and formed with tongues of yielding material extending in opposite directions between said walls, each for supporting the toe portion of a shoe.

7. A shoe container comprising a body portion having bottom and side walls, and a longitudinal member secured intermediate its ends to the top of the side walls and formed with tongues of yielding material extending in opposite directions between said walls, each for supporting the toe portion of a shoe, said tongues each having yielding marginal portions for spreading said toe portions into partially stretclied condition.

8. A shoe container of fiber board having bottom and side walls, a'substantially flat longitudinal member secured at its central portion along the top of the side walls and providing a pair of substantially flat tongues resiliently projecting in opposite directions from said central portion, said tongues being longitudinally scored along straight lines substantially parallel to the side edges of the tongues and spaced therefrom to form yieldingly supported substantially fiat marginal portions, said tongues supporting a pair of shoes Within the container With the toe portions thereof in partially stretched condition.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

LEO C. SAFIR. 

